Letter from Judy Lewallen
UFO book – February 1997 – Colorado Central Magazine
Dear Martha Quillen:
You were much too kind to Chris O’Brien in your review of his book, The Mysterious Valley. Not to say that we shouldn’t take these allegations of strange occurrences lightly. I do believe that mind-boggling events do happen in the San Luis Valley. I am just not sure that these happenings are the effect of outside forces.
I should be more open-minded. After all, I have had some strange things happen to me. After I read the review of O’Brien’s book in the Crestone Eagle, I wrote a letter to the editors questioning the sincerity of the reviewer’s neutrality.
I, too, questioned O’Brien’s research methods. (If only I could have gotten away with his techniques when finishing my master’s program.) His methods relied on his and others’ observations. What scientist (in his or her right mind) relies upon our unreliable memories as the main staple of research?
Strange to say, when I returned to my computer to print out the letter, it could not be found, not on the hard drive, not on the A disk, not on the B disk. It disappeared into thin air. One for Ripley’s, I guess.
I should not be too hard on O’Brien. My ire falls on the editors at St. Martin’s Press. Obviously, the topic sells books. Admittedly, I would jump up and down and do handstands to get a book into print. I wonder if St. Martin’s would be interested in a book on the collective consciousness of the San Luis Valley? I believe that many residents are just a little too eager to experience mystical events. I know that I am.
Every time I visit the Valley, I keep my eyes peeled to the sky, my ears listening for unearthly hums, and my inner self primed for that first meeting with an extraterrestrial. Nothing yet, maybe next trip.
Judy Lewallen
Colorado Springs
(Editor’s Note: This letter, which arrived in October, mysteriously vanished from the Colorado Central computer system for several months before re-appearing in January. Could this be mere coincidence?)